Sexton selected to head division of Los Angeles Sheriff's Department

Wednesday

Feb 6, 2013 at 4:00 PM

Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ted Sexton has been tapped to take over as a division chief of the Los Angeles County Sheriff's Department in California.However, efforts to determine whether Sexton will accept the job have been unsuccessful. Confirmation of Sexton's selection could come as early as next week.

By Jason MortonStaff Writer

Tuscaloosa County Sheriff Ted Sexton has been tapped to take over as a division chief of the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department in California.Steve Whitmore, spokesman for L.A. County Sheriff Leroy D. Baca, said Wednesday that the hiring process was awaiting completion by the Los Angeles County Board of Supervisors, which is the equivalent of Tuscaloosa’s County Commission.“Everything looks good,” Whitmore said. “We’re just in a holding pattern.”Confirmation of Sexton’s selection could come from the board as early as next week.However, Sexton said he has yet to receive a formal job offer from Los Angeles.“I’m honored to be considered,” Sexton said Wednesday from Washington, D.C., where he had traveled on Wednesday to address immigration and law enforcement issues, “but I’ve not had a formal job offer.”Sexton said he’s received numerous job offers, in government and the private sector, upon returning from an almost two-year stint with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Sexton served as the first assistant secretary for State and Local Law Enforcement.However, he still remains Tuscaloosa County’s sheriff.“The offers have been made and I greatly consider the appreciation,” Sexton said.Should the Los Angeles County offer be extended and Sexton accept, Gov. Robert Bentley will appoint a successor for Tuscaloosa County’s sheriff seat.Sexton’s connection to the job in California came via a memo recommending his hire that was obtained by The Tuscaloosa News.According to the memo from William T. Fujioka, the CEO of Los Angeles County, Sexton has been chosen to head the Los Angeles County Sheriff’s Department’s Homeland Security Division.This division of the Sheriff’s Department has more than 1,100 sworn and civilian employees and is charged with protecting “potential high-risk threat targets” while using its resources “to prevent, mitigate, or provide specialized response capabilities to homeland security threats and acts of terrorism,” the memo said.The memo, dated Jan. 29, was issued to the Los Angeles Board of Supervisors and said that Sexton was selected based on his more than 30 years’ law enforcement experience with the Tuscaloosa County Sheriff’s Office and the U.S. Department of Homeland Security. Sexton served with the U.S. Department of Homeland Security from January 2008 to October 2009.“As sheriff of Tuscaloosa County, Mr. Sexton has worked aggressively to bring the highest level of education, training, and professionalism not only to those directly under his command, but also to law enforcement officials throughout the area,” Fujioka’s memo said.Whitmore said that Baca became associated with Sexton through the National Sheriffs’ Association, for which Sexton served as president in 2005 and 2006.Baca also was aware of Sexton’s stint with the federal Department of Homeland Security during George W. Bush’s presidential administration and he wants that kind of experience for the L.A. County department, Whitmore said.“Sheriff Baca has known Sheriff Sexton for quite a while and admired his work with the Bush administration,” Whitmore said. “And if it would ever work, (Baca) would certainly like to have that kind of national expertise at the local level.”If he accepts the job, which pays an annual base salary of $187,020, Sexton would be closer to his son, whom Whitmore said recently completed academy training and was working within the Los Angeles County jail system and its more than 19,000 inmates.Sexton’s political history in Tuscaloosa dates back to 1990. That’s when he, while running as a Democrat, was first elected Tuscaloosa County sheriff.He was elected to his sixth consecutive term in 2010.Soon thereafter, Sexton switched to the Republican Party to seek the office of Tuscaloosa County probate judge, which Hardy McCollum, the incumbent and a lifelong Democrat has held since 1976.Sexton lost the race in November by a 3-to-2 margin.In his more than 20 years as Tuscaloosa County sheriff, Sexton modernized the department and the consistently overcrowded Tuscaloosa County Jail, which under his guidance became the first county correctional facility in Alabama to receive accreditation from the American Correctional Association, a process that requires complying with more than 100 exacting guidelines.He also put a focus on technology by updating the county’s computer systems, allowing inmates to conduct hearings with judges in the Tuscaloosa County Courthouse via the Internet.Sexton also oversaw the installation of an Internet-based system to track, in real time, the location of deputies across Tuscaloosa County to better accommodate incident response time.Sexton’s education background includes a bachelor’s degree in administrative science with a concentration in law enforcement administration from the University of Alabama, obtained in 1997, and he has completed training programs at the FBI National Academy, the U.S. Secret Service Dignitary Protection Seminar and the National Sheriff’s Institute.